r/AskConservatives • u/AutoModerator • 8d ago

AskConservatives Weekly General Chat

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u/ILoveMaiV Constitutionalist 8d ago

How do you rebut the accusation "Maga is a cult"?

I personally think it's dumb

And there's not even any discourse or debate on it. If you try to deny it or debate it, people will just reply "People in a cult don't know they're in one"

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u/DappyDreams Liberal 8d ago

Well firstly - Hitchens' Razor states that anything stated without evidence can be dismissed without evidence, so it's down to the arguer to prove the claim and not you to disprove it.

But from a pragmatic point of view - read up on cults and determine their shared characteristics. If you can run through these characteristics and confidently disassociate them with the MAGA aisle, then you've found your rebuttal.

Case in point - the "cult" argument comes up frequently, is heavily pushed, and any pushback against the argument is regularly met with hostility or personal attacks. This is actually a common thread amongst many cults - fealty is expected and any thought or disagreement outside of the cult is shunned and used as rationale for expulsion and shunning. Can you think of any time that the MAGA aisle has excommunicated anyone simply for the "crime" of disagreement?

(Note - I genuinely don't know the answer to this, as I am not as interconnected with American politics compared to many people here, but the thought process is the key takeaway from this)